What beet variety will you grow?

When looking at beet varieties it is important to see what suits your system. Have you weedy beet in your fields? Do you want to graze the crop?

Smart beet

Conviso Smart beet is now well established. Smart beet can be planted on land where weed beet is a problem. The crop can be sprayed with Conviso One herbicide which will control weed beet as well as knot grass, fool’s parsley, fat hen, creeping thistle and many grass weeds. Growers should make sure not to spray Conviso One herbicide on standard beet and to clean the sprayer after using the herbicide.

There is very little difference between the varieties – Jannika and Sanya – when it comes to relative yield. Goldcrop trials put Jannika at 109 and Sanya at 108 and both have an expected root dry matter content of 22.5%.

Sugar and fodder beet

Alisha sugar beet has a relative yield score of 112 and an expected dry matter content of 22.5%.

Enermax is still a reliable variety for many growers. It has a relative root dry matter yield of 100 and an expected root dry matter of 19.6%.

Delicante is a new fodder beet to the market. DLF score this beet at 17.4% for dry matter across three years of trials. Gahan is another high dry matter beet at 23.7% DM from DLF.

Gustea was new in 2022 from Goldcrop. It has a relative yield of 106 and an expected root dry matter content of 21%.

When looking to graze a crop you need an overground root cover percentage of 40 or over. Most sugar and fodder beet would be in the low 20s.

No recommended list is available for beet crops in Ireland. You should consult with your local seed supplier for a variety suited to your system. Many more varieties are available which are not listed here.